


Atrophy

by colebotanica (dontrushme)



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-02-17
Packaged: 2018-05-11 07:45:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5619136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontrushme/pseuds/colebotanica
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Illusive Man's gilded cage was not kind on Callie Shepard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The _Normandy_ was silent except for the quiet hum of the engines and life-support, the lights dimmed for the off-shift when most of the crewmembers were asleep. Liara T’Soni stood outside the door to her Commander’s cabin. She swallowed, then stretched out a hand to knock—the door swished open and Shepard stood on the other side, breathing labored and eyes darting from side to side. Her usually pleasantly brown skin was pale. Callie Shepard grabbed Liara’s arm and tugged her inside, locking the door behind her.

“Shepard, what’s wrong?” Liara said.

“Sorry,” Shepard said tightly, her brow furrowed and a light sheen of sweat on her temples. “Bad dream.”

Liara reached out and took Shepard’s hand, carefully watching for any further signs of discomfort at the touch. Shepard only leaned forward slightly, her eyes losing the haunted look of those waking from a nightmare.

“Liara,” she said. “Why wouldn’t you come with me? Back on Ilium? You could’ve helped, we could have convinced them, shown them all…” Shepard’s face crumpled. Her voice was thick with tears. “I had to leave Earth to fall! If we… if we had been able to convince them earlier… maybe we could’ve been prepared!”

Liara pulled Shepard into a tight embrace, holding her as sobs shook her frame. Shepard’s dark hair, usually in a tight bun, fell in thick curls around her shoulders. Liara ran her fingers through Shepard’s hair. “I’m sorry, Shepard,” she whispered.

 

\--------------

 

It was a few nights later when Shepard had a few moments really to herself. The surprise, premature takeoff of an incredibly high-tech stealth vessel like the _Normandy_ was hardly an easy feat and there was no lack of tasks for Shepard to oversee, orders for Shepard to give, crewmembers for Shepard to speak to. Damned if she’d let the galaxy fall just because morale was low on her own ship.

But now, in the down hours traveling to Palaven’s moon, Shepard had some time to think. Six months of being on ice at the Alliance base following many more months of blackmail had hardened her to the whims of others, and now she found herself drawn to Liara’s cabin. The door opened as soon as she approached. Shepard had to wonder if it was only programmed to do so when she approached, or if other crewmembers had such easy access to the long office that had once belonged to Miranda.

Shepard shook her head and walked inside.

Liara stood at a huge wall of screens and panels, Glyph whirring and humming cheerily to itself. The whole room reflected the eerie blue tones of the wall on Shepard’s right, Liara’s skin seeming to glow in the light. She turned, her dark blue eyes lit from the side, and smiled.

“Shepard.”

“Hey,” Shepard replied, leaning her hip against Liara’s desk. “We should talk. I mean, we sort of did, the other day, but not really.”

Liara looked away. “Of course.”

Shepard sighed. “Liara, why-“ she felt her voice break, and swallowed before continuing. “Do you ever think about what would happen if you didn’t come back from a mission?”

Liara’s blue eyes widened. “Shepard, this mission is dangerous, but we need to have hope.”

“Do you think I wouldn’t care if you died?” Shepard spat the end of the sentence, anger that she didn’t want and couldn’t control spilling out of her mouth. “I would! You’re my- you’re still my best friend! But I wouldn’t sell your still-warm corpse to terrorists.”

“I’m-“ Liara closed her eyes, her voice wavering. She was silent for a few moments. “Shepard, I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “But you didn’t have to listen to your closest friend in the galaxy suffocate.”

Shepard turned away. “At least we’re with Alliance now,” she said, her voice holding the bitterness of the months she spent with Cerberus. She walked to the door, ignoring Glyph and stepping over the threshold.

“Shepard,” Liara began.

“We’ll hang out later,” Shepard said. “I have to finish cleaning my gear. We’ll be at Palaven in an hour or so, be ready.”

The automatic door swished close.

 


	2. Chapter 2

The aftermath of their short time on Menae was hectic.

Seeing Garrus had been- a surprise. Shepard had been worried, trying to reach his comms since the Reapers had attacked, but she hadn’t really held out a whole lot of hope. It was hard, these days, to hope for anything at all. So she had shook his hand like an idiot and pushed on.

She wanted to go down to the main battery, she knew he would be there, messing around with all of their new equipment. She needed to talk to him. But- he hadn’t tried to contact her while she was in the Alliance’s glorified prison cell. Or maybe he had, and Vega just hadn’t told her.

So Shepard paced back and forth in her cabins. Not a prison cell, but close enough. The Alliance had taken all of her model ships.

Her comm chattered with various reports from crew, all seeming to think that their problems were the most important. They had evacuated before they were supposed to, before the ship was totally ready, and nobody let her forget it.  
Callie ripped the little receiver out of her ear and threw it. It skittered under her desk. The anger that had been welling in her throat escaped with a growl. Her feet slammed against the floor as she paced, hair falling out of her bun and into her face.

 

 

\-------------------

 

It wasn’t clear how long she’d been standing there. A while, probably. Her legs hurt. The clock next to her bed was too blurry for her to read. She shook her head and blinked, the numbers swimming back into focus. 23:14, ship time. Not that late.

The door chimed. And then again. A little insistently, the third time. Oh. Shepard sat on her bed and called out, “Come in.” The door slid open, and Garrus walked down the little staircase and sat next to her.

“Crazy war, huh?” he said. His familiar voice felt like coming home. Shepard wanted to trust it. Garrus looked upset- not that she had a great grasp of turian body language, but she could tell. His pale eyes were almost reflective in the ship’s dim off-shift lighting, catching all the light and keeping it for himself.

“I hope your family gets off Palaven,” Shepard said. She could say that they would, she was sure, but she wasn’t, and Garrus wasn’t the naïve ex-C-Sec officer she’d met years ago. He turned away slightly.

“Me too,” he said.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, close enough that they could’ve touched. Neither of them moved.

Garrus caught her eye, and flexed his mandibles in a turian smile. It was probably very fake, but Shepard didn’t blame him. “You know, nobody believed me. Not until the Reapers started shooting, not until it was years too late.” So the smile was sarcastic. She could work with that. “They tried to pacify me, shut me up. Promote me to some meaningless rank. But they didn’t ever really believe it.”

“At least they didn’t lock you up,” Shepard replied. She hadn’t meant it to be so biting. 

“We need to talk,” he said. “If you need space, or you- don’t feel the same way, I get that. But- _spirits_ , I missed you. Longest six months of my life, without you. That sounds stupid, I know. But I thought about you all the time.” He laughed, sarcasm and stress bleeding out of his voice. “I hope I never meet whoever was screening your messages at the Alliance. That would be embarrassing.”

Shepard eyed him for a moment. He didn’t want to turn this into an argument, clearly, but she was tired of holding back. “Take off your stupid fucking clothes,” she ordered.

“Straight to the point, I guess,” he said, pulling at some of the clasps on his shirt. “You know, I bought some wine, I looked up the best levo wines on the extranet, so-“

“Shut up, Garrus,” Shepard said. She pushed his hands away and started taking his clothes off, tugging at his collar impatiently.  
Peeling the dark cloth from his skin, Shepard ran her tongue over the ugly scarring that covered large swathes of Garrus’s neck and crest. She nipped at his bare, fleshy neck, making him shiver.

“Shepard-“ he gasped when she pushed him down onto the bed, hard, and began assisting him out of the lower half of his clothing. He gasped again as Shepard bit her way down his torso. She pulled away and crawled back up til they were face to face again, straddling his hips.

“Damn,” he said.

“EDI, turn off the goddamn lights and stop watching us,” Shepard said loudly. The lights flicked off, leaving them in the pale glow of Shepard’s fish tank. It was the same pale blue as Garrus's eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Garrus had left fairly early the next morning, avoiding eye contact as he tidied himself up. Shepard stayed in her bed, watching him. Had she done something wrong? They hadn’t been together that long, before, but he’d always liked to stay and take advantage of the fact that the ship’s commanding officer could have breakfast sent up to her luxurious cabin, and just stay in bed and talk.

But he left quickly, barely stopping to say goodbye. “I’ll see you later,” he said as he walked out the door.

“Bye,” Shepard said helplessly, sheets and blankets tangled around her legs.

\-----------------

 

His coolness towards her persisted- he deflected her with offhand comments about work when she went down to the battery, and wouldn’t make plans with her for when he was done working. He wasn’t being rude, but he was usually much warmer than this. Maybe she had been wrong about the nature of their relationship. It wasn’t like he was outright rejecting her- maybe he _was_ just busy. But so was she, and she could make time for dinner, or drinks.

Thinking about it gave her a headache.

So, as she often did when faced with a problem she couldn’t figure out, Shepard went to Liara. Liara was far more levelheaded than Shepard, and could see the different points of view around a problem in a way Shepard never could. Even if there was tension between them, she was ignoring the bitterness she felt in favor of trying to be friends.

Shepard walked in and sat herself in the chair in the corner of Liara’s office. “I’m confused,” she began.

Liara turned and walked over to her. “What is it, Shepard?” The wall of screens followed her. It was a little unnerving.

She sighed. “Have you talked to Garrus recently?”

“Yes, we spoke yesterday.”

Shepard narrowed her eyes. “Oh, so he’s not too busy to talk to you?”

“Shepard, what is going on?”

She took a deep breath. “He came up to my room, like, a week ago? And we… well. He stayed the night, but in the morning he just left. He wouldn’t talk to me. And he’s been avoiding me, I think, since then.” Shepard sighed. “It’s stupid. We’re not kids.”

Liara placed a hand on her shoulder. “Shepard,” she said. “Perhaps when he went to see you, sex was not all he was looking for.” Shepard felt her face heat up.

“It’s all he’s ever looked for before,” she muttered. That wasn’t really true, but it sort of _felt_ true. Maybe because it was all any man had looked for from her before.

Liara smiled. “I think you should go and talk to him. If he has been avoiding you, make it clear that you are interested in talking about the nature of your relationship. Garrus is not unkind. He will speak with you.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Shepard said. She stood. “I’ll go now, I guess.”

“I think that would be best,” Liara said. She turned back to her screens. “Shepard, he does care for you. Anyone could see it.”

Shepard smiled. “I’ll talk to you later, probably. Thanks.” She nodded at Glyph on the way out- it was only a VI, but she felt she could make an effort sometimes- and headed through the mess to the main battery.

 

\-----------------------

She was nervous, coming up to the door, but forcing people to listen to her was sort of her job. She braced herself. Garrus was standing there, poking at the screen, muttering numbers to himself.

“Hey,” she said.

He turned, not moving from his station. “Shepard,” he said, in a tone that wouldn’t have been cold except for its lack of his usual warmth. “Can we talk later?”

“We need to talk now, I think,” she said, pushing her point bullishly. “About us.”

He turned away. “I really am busy,” he said. “We’re almost at the Citadel, meet me at the docks. I know a place we can talk in private.”

Shepard considered that for a moment- it felt like letting him off the hook, but she had to admit that if this turned sour, she wouldn’t really want it to happen right next to the mess. There were enough crewmembers there at any given time to feed the rumor mill for the rest of the goddamn war.

“Okay,” she said abruptly. “I’ll see you on the Citadel.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just finished ME3 again, and... hoo boy. I got a few new ideas, so I went back and made some edits, for consistency's sake. 
> 
> Also, here's a picture I drew of Callie on my tumblr: http://officialandersfanclub.tumblr.com/post/137713681192/callie-shepard-my-beautiful-paragon-baby

The Citadel docks were, as usual, lousy with people- soldiers, arriving refugees, entire families and individual travelers. Shepard had stayed on the Normandy longer than most of her crew, making sure the Normandy was registered with the Citadel. There were a few familiar faces at the docking bay, namely James and Steve standing by the railing, watching ships go by.

Garrus was standing in front of the transit terminal, holding a big bag and wearing armor. It was his nice armor, admittedly, but he was still wearing armor. He had his sniper rifle over his shoulder. He looked up and gave her a wide turian smile, his mandibles pulling away from his face. As she approached, he blinked at her slowly, like a cat, and gestured to the car waiting for them.

“Hey,” she said. “Where are we going?”

Garrus shoved his bag into the back of the car. “You’ll see,” he said. “Come on.”

She rolled her eyes and clambered into the passenger’s side. The seats were fake leather and so smooth. One day, when this war was over, maybe she would buy herself a car. They owed her more than enough hazard pay, and the public cars always smelled a little weird.

Garrus climbed in and pulled the door shut.

“Is there anything you’ve always wanted to do? Before you die?” He faced solidly forward, starting up the car and following the flow of traffic.

Shepard looked at him curiously. “I guess. I don’t know.” He glanced at her, quickly turning back to watch where he was driving. They sat quietly for a few minutes; overplayed pop with deep bass lines filled the space between them.

Moments like this used to be comfortable, the silence unoppressive. They needed to figure out what was wrong, Shepard thought, before the tension made her explode. She couldn’t handle being on a ship with two of her closest friends and not being able to talk to either of them openly.

Finally, Garrus turned the car out of traffic and landed it on one of the spoke-like structures similar to Huerta Memorial. The skycar clunked onto the plastic-y white surface.

Shepard got out of the car and stood, looking out over the presidium. “It’s beautiful,” she said. “Are we allowed to be up here?”

“Not exactly,” Garrus said. “Well, not at all. But I’ve always wanted to. Ever since my C-Sec days.”

Shepard turned to him and smiled; he’d moved closer, and was standing practically right behind her. “You get to pay bail if we get caught,” she said.

 “Deal,” he said, rumbling quiet laughter. They stood together in near-silence for a few heartbeats, taking in the view.

“Garrus,” she started, pulling her eyes away from the glittering lakes below. She’d decided to get straight to the point, despite… whatever it was that he clearly had planned. She turned to face him. “Why have you been avoiding me?”

He rubbed his neck, obviously nervous, his mandibles pressed against his face. “I’m not- I’m not angry, or anything. It’s just- you know, my family is still on Palaven.” He sighed. “One second, I brought stuff for a picnic. Joker said I should.”

She helped him spread out a quilt- where the hell he’d gotten a quilt from, she didn’t know- and he set a bag down between them. They sat, hands brushing. He looked down. “After you had turned yourself in, I went to my family. My mom was… really sick. She died a few months before the invasion.” Shepard curled her legs under herself and leaned into his shoulder. “Corpalis syndrome.”

“I’m sorry,” she murmured. He shook his head.

“I realized that… family means a lot to me, Shepard. If you don’t feel the same way, it’s okay. But I don’t just want casual sex anymore. I know we never really defined what we were, but I want to know that you’re serious about us.” His mandibles pulled away from his face, his smile a little goofy. “Are you ready to be a one-turian kind of woman?”

She pulled away from his shoulder, grabbing along his cowl and dragging him into a searing kiss. Their kisses were always a little awkward, due to his unyielding facial plating, but endearingly so. She never wanted to do anything other than kiss him. She leaned back, slightly breathless, and tipped her forehead to his in a turian sign of affection. “I love you, Garrus Vakarian,” she said.

He rumbled his approval, closing his eyes and smiling. He had a hand tangled into the hair at the back of her neck, scratching lightly at her scalp. It felt amazing, and the relief she felt at so easily solving the tension between them was just as nice.

He carefully removed his hand and moved away, standing up. She pouted at him. He laughed. “We can make out after I prove to you that I’m the best sharpshooter in the galaxy,” he said, producing another rifle out of the back of the skycar.

She laughed, standing as well. “You’re on, Vakarian.”


	5. Chapter 5

The forest was silent, dark trees creating lines in the fog, up and up until they disappeared into the white mist. The mist permeated through Shepard, a thick blanket that muffled any noise.

A shadow appeared at the edge of her vision. Shepard whirled around, only to see it disappear behind a tree. Her heart pounded in her neck, in her stomach. There were shadow hands on her back, running their cold fingers under her shirt. She ran. The mist was like molasses, each step stretching years before she could push herself forward again.

The shadows were unhindered, and they flowed freely around her, running in circles and wavering in the diffuse light. One leaned in, whispering breathlessly in her ear in the voice of a child. It brushed its hands against her and broke the oxygen line away from the envirosuit that she hadn’t been wearing until a moment ago. The hissing filled her senses, choking in her lungs, as the fog whited out her vision.

She screamed.

 

Shepard was pulled out of the clinging mist by long fingers, firmly pulling her awake by her shoulders. She gasped for breath, realizing dimly that her face was wet. Garrus shook her a little. She tried to tune into what he was saying.

“Shepard,” he said urgently. “Shepard, it’s okay, it’s alright.” She opened her eyes. He moved back slightly and released her shoulders. Then his fingers were brushing the tears away from her face, his other arm reaching around her. She curled into him, fighting to stop the tears, grounding herself in the rough plates that covered his chest.

“Shepard, it was just a dream,” he said, gentle, quiet. She sniffed and nodded, still unable to reply for taking in as much oxygen as she could with each shuddering breath.

With each gentle motion Garrus’s talons made over her back, she came back to herself. She realized that maybe this wasn’t what he had had in mind for their romantic night together, and she felt even worse. She pulled away and wiped her face with the heel of her palm. Turning away from him, she moved to the edge of the bed, staring at the floor between her knees. She avoided his gaze.

He reached out, lightly touching her arm. “It’s okay,” he repeated.

She shook her head. “I’m sorry.”

At that, he tugged her back down. “Go back to sleep,” he said. She sighed and closed her eyes.

“Okay,” she whispered.

He arranged the sheets and thick comforter around her shoulders, crawling under them and wrapping himself around her, too. He pressed a sweet human kiss on her neck and a pressed his forehead into the messy hair on the back of her head. She sighed and relaxed into the warm circle of his arms. The warmth and the soft rumbling of his reassuring purr lulled her back into a light sleep.

 

\---------------

 

Shepard woke promptly at 0615 with a light headache- unpleasant- and light scoring along her shoulders and neck from teeth and claws- decidedly more pleasant. She dressed efficiently, years of military training forcing her out of the soft, warm bed. Before she had time to regret not staying in bed, Garrus sat up and flexed his mandibles sleepily, eyes still half closed.

It was adorable.

She returned to the bed, sitting by him to tie her boots. Their eyes met and they shared a smile, leaning in to touch foreheads lightly. She drew back and stood, her boots solidly on, and moved towards the couch. “Want me to get some breakfast? Or do you want to go down to the mess and eat with Wrex? He’s great in the morning, very cheery.”

Garrus laughed. “Between you and Wrex, I’d definitely choose you.” He leaned back slightly and dropped his mandibles in a quick turian frown. “Although I don’t see why you have to be quite so clothed just for breakfast.”

She shrugged. “It’s one thing to be caught with my pants down while I’m off-duty. You need to suit up, too, because we’re going to pick up the Krogan female today and you better be ready.”

He rolled his shoulders back, stretching as Shepard asked EDI to have someone bring them up their morning rations and some coffee. She intercepted him on his way to grab his clothes, placing her hands on his chest and kissing his mandibles, lightly trailing her lips along the rough scarring that marked one half of his face. “Shepard, you’re distracting me,” he grumbled, but the firm hands that were making their way up under the hem of her shirt sent another message.

The door made a noise and swished open, revealing Traynor. The woman clearly tried to look appropriately scandalized, but her lips quirked in a badly hidden smile.

“Hey, Traynor,” Shepard said lazily, turning in Garrus’s arms to half-face the young Alliance specialist.

“Uh, good morning, Commander,” she replied, her words shaky with barely contained laughter. She set the tray she was holding down on Shepard’s desk and practically ran out.

She turned back to Garrus and stroked his frowning mandibles. “You planned that,” he accused.

She grinned and walked up the stairs to grab their breakfasts- a bagel for her, and a dextro protein bar for him, placed next to a steaming cup of coffee and a bottle filled with some sort of reconstituted dextro juice. It was red.

Garrus was already sitting on the couch as she placed the tray on the coffee table, and she sat next to him, swinging her legs over his and took a sip of her coffee. Her lingering aches began to melt away; she felt energized enough to even begin to face the billions depending on her, starting with Wrex and the Primarch.

They sat together quietly, and Shepard leaned against him, savoring his warmth and this moment of peace before they had to return to the bustle of the decks below.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i fcking love Eve   
> sorry for my canon dialogue but i felt it Necessary

 

The shuttle ride back to the ship after being picked up on Sur’Kesh was… tense. Wrex looked like he had something to say, but the female Krogan seemed unimpressed and uninterested. Mordin- and, God, was Shepard glad to see Mordin- spent the whole time chattering about tests and treatments and theories, filling the shuttle with noise that nobody else could understand.

Garrus and Liara sat to one side of the shuttle, trying to keep out of the way of two Krogan, an overenthusiastic salarian, and herself. They remained quiet, Liara watching the entirely unsubtle interactions owlishly. Shepard knew she sometimes got a little out of hand around the krogan, since they appreciated her boisterous and casual violence more than any other species in Citadel space, but she enjoyed having them around. Garrus thought she was crazy- one krogan was enough for him- but she loved the energy.

It distracted her from her black moods- with the krogan, you could pick a fight whenever you wanted and nobody stayed angry. She considered Wrex her brother, and having his familiar bulk on board gave her the illusion of stability. Even the current of tension that seemed to string through everyone else couldn’t ruin it for her.

Once they had docked in the Shuttle Bay, Shepard escorted Mordin and the female Krogan- nicknamed Eve- to the Med Bay. Wrex’s borderline territorial glares sent the human crew scattering. Mordin seemed incredibly excited with the turn of events, and he began setting up tests as soon as they arrived, shooing Shepard and Wrex out of med bay. She shot a sympathetic glance at Chakwas, who already looked put-upon, and herded Wrex into the mess.

 

\-----------------

 

Visiting the Med Bay at night left a bad taste in Shepard's mouth; the taste of ghosts, and cold sweat, and chemical cleaners. She thought of the last time she'd seen Thane, in Huerta, weakening and oversterile in a way that made it impossible to forget why he was there. Shaking her head, she made her way past Mordin and stood in front of Eve. The krogan's robes were dark as night and lined and accented with gold. She was beautiful, in her way, and quiet. Peaceful, maybe. 

Eve stood up, and the look in her eyes spoke of nothing like peace. "Hello, Commander," she said, her voice smoother than any other krogan Shepard had met, but very deep. 

"I don't know what to call you," Shepard replied. Krogan often responded better to bluntness, if not outright threats. “Eve is just a nickname, what’s your real name?”

Mordin had abandoned his work momentarily, and wandered over to join them.

"I don't have a name," Eve said. "I surrendered it when I became a shaman to my clan. I belong to my sisters.”

“I didn’t realize there were female shaman,” Shepard said.

Eve seemed to smile behind her mask. “Some of us have kept to the old ways, so one day our children can share in our wisdom.” The smile disappeared. “Wisdom comes from pain. The genophage has made us very wise.”

“How did you become a shaman?” she asked, her natural curiosity overcoming any caution she might have felt about this unknown krogan. Shepard found herself with a deep respect for this self-possessed woman.

Eve regarded Shepard, silent for a moment, Mordin humming to himself as he tapped away on his omni-tool and ran passive scans. “You are trapped in a cave, only enough food for seven days. On the eighth, you’ll starve.” She leaned forward, catching Shepard on her sharp gaze.

“Why?” she breathed.

“It proves your resolve,” Eve replied, shifting her weight back. She stood straight, proud; looking close, Shepard could see the wear of the decades on what little skin she showed. “Every acolyte is given a chance; you either claw your way out through the rock with your bare hands, or you die.”

She was smiling again, a subdued expression acutely different from what Shepard was used to seeing on krogans. “I started digging the wrong way,” she said. “I was in complete darkness. Nothing other than my own heartbeat to sustain me.”

She reached into a small pocket by her side and pulled out a sturdy crystal; it might’ve been quartz, if it was from Earth, but Shepard had no idea what was common on Tuchanka. “I found this. It became my chisel.” She met Shepard’s curious look and her eyes crinkled gently. Taking Shepard’s hands in hers, she placed the crystal in her palm. “Take it as a reminder, Commander.”

“Even in the darkest hour, there is always a way out.”

 

\--------------

 

The two spoke together quietly, one very powerful woman to another, for a very long time. Mordin barely seemed to notice, singing and alternating between bending over his work and fussing over the krogan. Shepard only realized how long they had been when her omni-tool pinged.

“I have to go,” she said. “Thank you for talking with me.”

Eve reached forward and shook Shepard’s hand in a very consciously human gesture. “It’s my pleasure, Commander. I’m glad to see humans treat their women with respect. Your people have placed a lot of responsibility on you.”

“No more than your people have placed on you,” Shepard said, smiling.

Eve settled back on her bed and barked out a short laugh. “Then maybe we can show the men how it’s done.”

“Deal,” Shepard said, her smile growing to a grin as she left med bay. She _really_ liked krogan.


End file.
